Where are you from?

 

 I grew up as an "airforce brat." For those of you not familiar with the term, it means that I was born into and spent all of my growing up years as the daughter of a Military Man. My father was an aircraft electrician in the Canadian Armed Forces. For some families this means that you move every couple of years.  Wherever the government decides to send you in essence.  We were fairly lucky in that with my father's trade we never had to move an awful lot. Basically we I lived in four different places as a child. 

I was born in Summerside, moved to Germany, then Gimli Manitoba and then to Nova Scotia where I lived until I left to go out West to Winnipeg, Manitoba as an adult and wife of another Military Man. That time I was not so lucky because we moved a lot, Lot, LOT!  But that is a whole different story. 

Growing up an airforce brat meant many things. It meant I grew up for the most part without having any extended family around.  We never got to know, really know, our grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. We knew about them of course, but we didn't really know them. It didn't really matter much because everyone we knew was in the same boat, although some of them did have family come to visit them from time to time or they went on holidays to visit their own extended families. 

My parents had come from very humble and poor families. There was no money for travel that was unnecessary. Holidays were when you got to take the uniform off and relax and maybe have a day at the beach if you were lucky enough to have one closeby to visit.  My dad always spent his holidays putting up television antennae. That was his sideline and how he earned his spending money.

Today there are no childhood homes that I can go back and visit for the most part. Many have been torn down to make way for other things. There is no "homestead" for us to return to. I am from Nova Scotia because that is where my mother was born, and where my parents retired to, and where I spent half of my growing up years. This is where I graduated from High School, took my vocational training, went to Uni, got married and started my family, before I, also, went off traveling the world as well.

This is where I returned to whenever I came "home"  however. And so I am from Nova Scotia.  

I don't mind being from Nova Scotia. There are far worse places to come from. To me, this is the land of milk and honey, and this is where many of my family roots lie, some going right back to the very first settlers who arrived as well as to those who were already here to greet those first settlers when they landed.  I am truly Canadian to the core, and yes a Nova Scotioner! 

What did being an Airforce Brat teach me?  For one thing, it helped to make me very resilient and adaptable. It taught me that "home" was really only one thing, and that was family . . .  the ones who loved you, forever and for always, no matter what.  I got to experience living in different landscapes and cultures. I gained a deeper appreciation for the world as a whole than I might have done had I never travelled much further than the limits of my own community. Travel is, in and of itself, a great educater for anyone. 

I grew up hearing the roar of jets flying overhead that I learned to never really hear, not even when they were breaking the sound barrier. In communities where all the men wore basically the same outfit every day, and some of the women too.  Where the sight of a moving truck was a cause for great excitement because you knew you were going to get to make a new friend . . .  or to become a new friend, or to go on a new adventure.  In a community where, unless your mom was wearing the same uniform as your dad, the women did not have careers.  

There were no strangers really. Only people you had yet to meet. And everyone was pretty much in the same boat, living the same experience. Our community was our home and extended family. This created a special kind of unity amongst us all, a bond that is at once very unique and somehow very beautiful.

For instance, I belong to a group on Facebook of over 500 souls, all having spent their teenage years in Greenwood Nova Scotia. We all love each other and have a unique relationship with each other, having been forged in the fires of having been brought up as an "airforce brat." We have a special closeness that I have never seen in any other facebook group. We share a history and an experience that is unique to us and that only we "get." We truly care about each other in a very special way.

Interestingly enough,  a great many of us consider ourselves to be from Nova Scotia. This is home. Funny how that goes. 

Most of my family lives here in Nova Scotia, despite having been armed forces brats themselves, and the two that don't, still live within an easy drive of being in Nova Scotia. We are all Maritimers. 

Having lived away for 20 years, I have returned "home." Despite being away, I always considered myself to be first and foremost a Canadian, and then a Maritimer/Nova Scotioner. "Home" was always here on this almost island, nestled in the westerly waters of the Atlantic ocean. I always knew that this is where I would end up one day in one way or another. This is where my roots have always lain, and where they will always be.

As an airforce brat I never thought I had roots.  As an adult I have discovered them.

  

It is snowing this morning. I am not sure how long it is supposed to last. I have discovered that Winter's come late now. When I was a child it seemed they came early . . .  the end of October, beginning of November.  I think now they really don't start in earnest until January, and February is the month of snow. Not November like it used to be. But I could be wrong and often am. In any case it is pretty to look at. 

I have been gathering in. This week I have bought a can opener, a melon baller, an apple corer, some wooden spoons, a dish drainer, a turkey baster, cooking thermometer, a potato masher, etc.  The kinds of things normally a young couple would be gathering in as they begin their new lives together.  

I have finished embroidering 4 teatowels. Today I will iron some patterns on some more so that I can embroider a few others. I have worked a lot on my new blanket. I started to paint a picture of a maritime scene.  I made a pot of stew and a pot roast, chicken cacciatore and I baked some of the best oatmeal cookies I have ever tasted. 

And I have dreamed a lot.  Made lots of plans. Looking forward instead of backward. Its a good thing. 

A thought to carry with you  . . .  

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.Be enough

for yourself first.

The rest of the world can wait.

~fw ° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •° * 。 • ˚ ˚  

 

 

 

In The English Kitchen today. Peaches & Cream French Toast.  Delicious served with maple syrup, sausage, and bacon curls. 

I hope you have a wonderful Saturday. Be safe. Be healthy. Be happy.  Don't forget! 

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And I do too!